Snorkeling, or how not to meet a sea urchin

Tessa learning to snorkel

Yesterday was a travel day, as we made our way back to Bangkok.  The day before, however, we took the girls snorkeling for the first time.

  The day started out perfect.  A gentle wake up, breakfast in the outdoor restaurant,and a beautiful ride out on a longtail to the first of the 4 islands we were going to visit that day.

We arrived at the first site, abutting one of the limestone formations jutting out of the water (karsts), at which point it got a bit more challenging, as we couldn't get the gear- adult sizes only- to stay on Kaia's head.
As we struggled to get the mask to stay on, Greg went off to explore.  He took some amazing underwater photos.

Look closely at this one and you can see one of those super spiny sea urchins that normal people only see in an aquarium.  Lucky Greg got up close and personal. By which I mean not only did he take this photo of one close up, but then, as he was turning for another shot, he accidentally kicked one with the top of his foot.

Hard.

  We learned of that unfortunate kick when Greg came rushing back to the boat, his foot bristling with fragments of sea urchin spines.  Now Greg does an excellent job of not making a show of intense pain so as not to freak out the girls (he had previous practice when, the day before and 5 minutes after getting in the water after our 21 hr trip, he got stung by a jelly fish), but the spines were still sticking out of his foot.

Greg, removing spines.

  As he tried to pick the spines out of his foot he asked the boat captain if he had any vinegar- that being the solution offered for the jellyfish sting the day before.  Though the captain spoke very little English, he disappeared and returned with a water bottle filled with yellow liquid that he poured over Greg’s foot.  Greg asked what it was.  Now ask yourself what would happen next if this were a sit-com episode.

Yep.  That’s what happened.

The captain smiled and said, “Pee.”

“Pee?”  Greg confirmed.

“Yeah.  Pee!”

What is there to do but laugh at that point?

So we laughed.  Though if it had been me with spines in my foot, I may not have laughed quite as hard as Greg did.

Greg didn’t want to go back, so we went on to the next island and into an inner lagoon.  This place was something out of a movie set- a narrow entrance draped with trees and plants, 

towering limestone cliffs, 

mangrove trees reaching up on tiptoe,

 dozens of starfish...it was stunning.

 

  We waded around for a bit and then headed to the last site of the day- one more island, with a sandy beach for the girls and plenty of rocks and fish for Michael and I.

Two different ways to experience Thailand.  They brought porters with them.

 We never did get past struggling with the gear for Kai.  Greg eventually lent us his mask, which worked much better, so she got a chance to snorkel, but it was still a challenge.  Those photos are on another camera, so they'll have to wait.  

    

Finally, after a long full day of sun, sand, water, fish, and....pee, we headed back to Koh Yao Yai for some dinner, some aloe (oh, poor Maine winter skin in Thailand's sun), some dinner, and a bit more relaxing in our small corner of paradise.